Colin Jost and Michael Che had a very long weekend. Not only did they both appear on SNL on Saturday night as usual, the duo also competed in WrestleMania 35 the very next day. How? Why? What? Who? Where? Huh? These are just some of the questions you may be asking yourself or anyone within earshot. Luckily, we're here for you with a recap of how we all got here.
This whole thing started a month ago when Jost and Che visited WWE Raw. Che made the mistake of leaving Jost unattended for mere moments, during which he managed to make an enemy of Braun Strowman. He's also known as "The Monster Among Men", so no, he's not very chill.
For his part, Jost attempted to make nice by sending Strowman a gift. The gift of a neewwwww car! Unfortunately, Strowman is literally known for destroying cars with feats of great strength. This is why a thoughtful gift requires research!
Things only escalated from here, with the whole thing coming to ahead at the next Raw event. Che and Jost confronted Strowman the safest way possible: over video chat from hundreds of miles away. In the end this precaution wouldn't protect them, though, as this allowed Strowman to demand the two fight in WrestleMania 35. A demand that event host Alexa Bliss happily accommodated, because some (wo)men just want to watch the world burn.
The announcement was surprising to say the least. And while the two comedians are both fans or wrestling, they are pretty obviously, uh, not wrestlers. At all. They wear suits, and not as a gimmick.
Luckily fans everywhere sent thoughts and prayers to the two men who seemed likely to be testing their NBC health insurance plans really, really soon.
And, of course, because something potentially interesting and different was happening, we were all treated to a rare glimpse of the most delightful type of person on the internet: the hater.
But unfortunately for the two 'Weekend Update' correspondents, the piece Strowman wanted was only of them. So much so, he took to terrorizing stand-ins.
He did actually take on these two stand-ins, in an attempt to show his two comedic opponents what they were in for. It did not go well for basically everyone in the ring who wasn't Braun Strowman.
Still, some fans had hope the pair would emerge from battle triumphant. Also, some fans probably do a lot of drugs and alcohol and should stop for their family's sakes because oh my God you're out of your mind.
And no, before you get all picky, it's not weird for Che and Jost to have been invited to compete in such a prestigious sporting event. They are far from the first comedians to appear at a major WWE event.
That's right, Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy once visited Summerslam as part of Nielsen's investigations into the whereabouts of The Undertaker. There was also this:
Yes, yes that *is* Drew Carey fighting in the Royal Rumble. This is just the kind of glorious fever-dream style of chaos the WWE orchestrates for us on a very regular basis.
Pee-Wee Herman has also appeared on the WWE as recently as 2010, because why not? He's a fun guy. But hey, before you start to feel too warm and fuzzy about all these fun visitors they manage to book...
Yes, that is our president engaging in one of his many, regular appearances on WWE. But hey, if it's good enough for the President of the United States, it's good enough for a couple of comedians from SNL right?
Oh right, Jon Stewart once competed at Summerslam, so, with all this precedent for comedians in wrestling, why did Che and Jost try to hide their participation from their fans?
The extreme lack of promotion for the event by the duo on their live show that was broadcasting literally the night before WrestleMania struck many fans as odd. If not outright insulting.
Conspiracy theories aside, maybe they were just scarred? Maybe they didn't want their own fans to see them brought low? Maybe this would weaken their iron-fisted rule over late night comedy? Maybe this goes all the way to the top! Ah sorry, I accidentally conspiracy theoried. Anyway, the two did show up to the big event the next day.
And Jost, who could not help himself, trolled the entire crowd by wearing an Odell Beckham Jr jersey to an event taking place in the home stadium of the New York Giants. It turns out he makes a pretty good villain, actually. Meanwhile, Che wore protective wrestling gear.
It wouldn't help. The pair came prepared though: with a strategy. A strategy called hiding. The two cowered under the actual ring, and they decided to let the big guys duke it out just above their heads.
Then, once most of the competitors had been eliminated, they emerged from hiding and just went for it. And for a moment, the whole world thought, hey, maybe they'll win? Brains over brawn! Or, Braun. Haha. I'm sorry.
Once their trickery failed, they instead attempted to reason with their enemy. Using their words. They're professional writers, after all. And they also had a little help from Colin Jost's therapist, who must be pretty expensive. It.... didn't work.
Ultimately, Strowman won. Which is the outcome basically everyone predicted from the start. But hey, imagine if he hadn't? Imagine if we'd gotten a whole arc of the villain Colin Jost strutting around WWE events with his smug little smirk, and everyone was just so upset? But no.
Well, the good news is they did get medical attention after the show. Whether it was appropriate remains to be seen. Better luck next time?
